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While the now-departed Marty o'Donnell will always be associated with Bungie, and in particular the eerie plainchant of Halo, and Austin Wintory has made a name with thoughtful independent games such as thatgamescompany's flOw and Journey*, Jesper Kyd is perhaps the most versatile, and the busiest, composer in video games. A largely self-taught musician, Kyd has provided music for franchises as diverse and well-known as Hitman, Assassin's Creed, Darksiders and Borderlands.

More recently, the mix of steel guitar and Romero-esque electronic screeching helped Undead Labs' State of Decay to stand out from a crowd - a throng, a mass, a multitude, a crush an oh my Lord they just keep coming - of zombie games. A more-than-competent depiction of the terror and tedium of building bases and alliances among the remnants of humanity, State of Decay was elevated by Kyd's score, the themes of which became a perfect companion to the game's rhythms. Welcome to Decay, from State of Decay's opening soundtrack, has been nominated for the Develop Awards Best Musical Composition prize.

I asked Kyd some questions about his recent video games work, and also his work for the SyFy TV show Metal Hurlant Chronicles, Season 2 of which is currently showing in the US. Based loosely on the 70s nudes-and-'ludes comic book Metal Hurlant, published as Heavy Metal in the English-speaking world, Metal Hurlant Chronicles features a different world and different characters every week, loosely connected by the Metal Hurlant of the title, an asteroid passing by the planet of the week. With each episode featuring a different cast and setting, Kyd's eclecticism seems a natural fit.

FORBES: First up, as a European now living and working in America [Kyd was born in Denmark and moved to Manhattan to set up Nano Studios, his first sound studio, after the bankruptcy of the Danish games publisher Zyrinx], you may have an unusual perspective on Metal Hurlant. You've mentioned your affection for Humanoids [the publishers of Metal Hurlant] before, but is there much awareness of the comic book in the US, or is SyFy coming to the US with a relatively clean slate?

JESPER KYD: I must admit I didn't know what ‘Metal Hurlant’ was at first. As far as I understand, this name was only used in France – but I grew up with Humanoids’ comics - many of these comic books were translated into Danish. It was only later when I found out that many of these stories first appeared in Metal Hurlant magazine.

In German speaking countries the comic books and TV show are both called ‘Schwermetall’, so there is a lot of history between all these brands. What ties them together is that these stories all started with Humanoids and Metal Hurlant. There is so much history and the Metal Hurlant brand is really deep with content. This comic book/publishing house started a revolution in European comics back in the early 1970s.

FORBES: You have two soundtracks out for a current game and a TV series, if I understand correctly - the Metal Hurlant Chronicles soundtrack and the OST for State of Decay. I'm interested in the process involved, and the contrast between scoring a video game and a TV series. First up, at what point do you start work on the music? How much of the product in each case did you have access to?

KYD: For State of Decay I met up with the developer Undead Labs in Seattle and we talked a lot about zombies and the American heartland, where the game is set. I am a huge zombie fan and it’s very exciting to be able to contribute to this project. The game had been in development for a while before I came on board (in Spring 2012) and I was able to see the landscape and different environments. I also drew inspiration from the concept art to come up with ideas; that can really help, since you are sometimes looking at something that’s very early in the graphics stage.

For Metal Hurlant Chronicles I didn’t use any concept art, since the rough edit I started with gives a pretty clear picture of the setting and mood. There might be computer graphics missing but there are plenty of other scenes that look finished. Also, once an edit is almost finalized, that's when I really get started with the music. By this time it would be normal to have written a few themes - especially for a film - but since each episode is different in style and genre, I tend to start from the beginning and score it through until the end.

When I get the final edit (usually only missing CGI) the episode is almost done and people are waiting for the music, so you have to move forward fast and efficiently. For games I tend to have more time, since I am involved early on and there is still plenty for the studio to work on when I start writing the music.

Really, any excuse to link to Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep...

FORBES: Metal Hurlant Chronicles must be an interesting challenge, as each of the episodes has a different setting and characters, so the score presumably has to tie these disparate elements together with a unifying theme, but also to have a different style and approach to match the different themes. How did you set out to reconcile these elements? I can hear some shared musical themes across different styles and instrumentation in the soundtrack...

KYD: For Season 1 there are a couple of unifying themes that tie the six episodes together; other than that Season 2 is scored like "mini-movies". The only reoccurring theme in this season is for Dominique Pinon (Alien Resurrection, The City of Lost Children). He has a role in 3 of the 12 episodes which are tied together nicely in one of the new episodes.

FORBES: On State of Decay - I've put a lot of hours into the game, and the score really contributes a lot to the experience - hearing "Hope Prevails" [a relatively peaceful, simple track built around an acoustic guitar riff triggered by walking around the survivor's base] was always a signal that I could stop worrying about being killed by zombies and take a breather, for example.

I'd love to hear a little about how you went about creating the music and how it was worked into the game. What influences did you draw on? And how involved are you, as a composer, in fitting the music to the game?

KYD: For State of Decay I was involved right from the beginning in coming up with the music style, and Undead Labs audio director Kevin Patzelt did a great job of implementing the score. In the case of “Hope Prevails” I wasn't initially sure this cue was going to work. It was such a departure from the other tracks which, in retrospect, is probably one reason why the cue works so well.

The score is inspired by the sound of Americana mixed with a zombie apocalypse! So lots of steel, acoustic and electric guitars, broken and rustic sounds mixed with percussion, analog synths and processing gear from the 1970s. Even though it's almost the end of the world, it's important to make the music pleasant to listen to, to give some hope. I mean, if you spend lots of hours in this world, I think it's really rewarding to explore the game world with some music that sounds like it belongs in the community of Marshall, to give an idea of what the world used to be and feel like here.

FORBES: The inevitable question - how do you find composing for games to be different from composing for TV and film? The latter, of course, are scripted and linear, so you can know when your music is going to be heard, and connect it to a precise scene. Whereas that presumably happens to a degree in games - such as the cutscenes of an Assassin's Creed game - music in a game like State of Decay has to be able to fit to a wide range of recurring circumstances without getting repetitive or appearing at inappropriate moments. How does that affect your process?

KYD: Well, it's like you mention: when scoring a cutscene there is no difference between film and games. If you are writing music for a cinematic-heavy game that perhaps only uses scripted music (you reach a certain point and the music starts), there is not much of a difference. But when looking at non-scripted games such as open world games (this is where I see a lot of games going on next-gen) there is a huge difference. You have to build a soundtrack for people to live in, for gamers to want to come back and explore.

With some games there is perhaps 100 hours’ worth of exploration to find and discover everything – and then new content is likely to be released such as DLC that further enhances the world – so a truly immersive soundtrack that is enjoyable over long periods of repeated playing and reminds you of the game experience... That can be really valuable.

FORBES: Roughly how much music do you think you have created for Metal Hurlant Chronicles, and how does that compare with a State of Decay or a Borderlands 2? And how do you go about selecting which tracks go into the market-released soundtrack albums?

KYD: I have written about four hours of music for Metal Hurlant Chronicles. For State of Decay I wrote about 45 minutes of music. Borderlands 2 was probably about an hour of music.

Selecting tracks for a soundtrack release is different on each project. Gearbox put together the two soundtrack releases for Borderlands 2 as well as the 3 recently released Borderlands 2 DLC soundtracks. ForState of Decay I came up with the track listing and Kevin Patzelt took care of the mastering process. With the Metal Hurlant soundtracks I put these together myself and Billy Bell mastered the music for Sumthing Else Music Works (the record label).

FORBES: You're working on at least one (as yet unannounced) next-gen (or current gen, at this point!) project. Without expecting you to reveal anything classified, I'd be interested to know if there are any differences between composing for a previous-generation game like State of Decay and a next-gen game, or whether your role is largely unchanged.

KYD: For now I don't see any big changes. The music is played back in better compression quality which in theory means more detail should be audible in the music. Again, it’s early days. Next-gen games are likely to become more ambitious but I think the first round of next gen games are mostly inspired by last-gen, since most AAA titles will probably be released on, for example, both Xbox 360 and Xbox One to be profitable. Also, game developers are likely to update an Xbox 360 game engine for now, instead of starting over with a more ambitions next-gen only engine, designed from the ground up to meet the needs of next gen and perhaps the generation of consoles after that...

Tracks from the State of Decay and Metal Hurlant Chronicles soundtracks, along with other work by Kyd, can be listened to at www.jesperkyd.com.

* Admittedly, Austin Wintory was also the musical director for Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded. But, you know, a job is a job, and that was an interesting project in a lot of ways. And, hey, does your career move smoothly from one job to another, with no unexpected turns or unusual assignments?

** This, on the other hand, is really pushing it. A romantic comedy in which Hilary Swank is romanced by dead Gerard Butler is not an intrinsically bad idea - although perhaps one best enjoyed from a distance. And Gerard Butler's Irish accent is a bit of a narrative hiccup, being good enough to suggest that it would be rude for any of the Irish people around him to call him out, but not so good that one does not have a lingering feeling that maybe he is actually a Scottish person playing a very long con in order to seduce American women. And Harry Connick Junior is frankly wasted. And the whole last-minute shoe design subplot... Let's just say it would have been better if Marsters had been a homicidal vampire, and would have given the film a much-needed haircut.

I realise I may not be the target audience. Clearly, this is my Gone Home.

I am currently a Contributing Editor at Wired Magazine in the UK, having written for Wired UK since its launch in 2009, and speak regularly on the impact of developing technologies on consumer behaviors at Wired Consulting events and elsewhere.